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Game 18: Michigan at Wisconsin

Post-Game: Great effort tonight. After that negative blog before the game the team showed me something. A gutty effort in Madison where it’s never easy to play.

Most impressive aspects of this game were Manny Harris, rebounding, and defense. Manny Harris has showed up before (although he had himself a damn game and showed the whole country what he was about). The rebounding and defense shocked me though, getting 50/50 balls against a team like Wisconsin really suprised me. That has been a struggle for Michigan all year long. Great to see that this team still hasn’t quit and went into a hostile environment and played with a good Wisconsin team.

A few interesting numbers: Manny 6 turnovers, DeShawn 4-19 shooting (YIKES!), Rebounds 33-20 in UM’s favor, 7 assists on 26 baskets, 42% shooting for us while Wisconsin shoots 52, we also only made 2 out of 4 FTs.

Some things to work on: bunny shots for DeShawn (and getting him more solid post touches) and spreading the floor on the break.

Pre-Game: Looking back on the first Wisconsin game write up, it looks a lot like what I have been writing repeatedly throughout the Big Ten season. I honestly don’t see anyway we win this game (or any of the ones coming up) without a miracle.

It probably won’t be Leuer this time but someone on Wisconsin will have a career day hitting threes on the perimeter and someone will repeatedly get wide open dunks and layups with less than 10 seconds on the shot clock when the zone breaks down. Michigan might keep it close for a half, or cut the lead down in the second half but by this point no one will expect them to win it. You can pretty much count on Wisconsin shooting a high percentage and out rebounding us, DeShawn Sims will score 6-10 points over the span of 6 minutes or so and then disappear. We will have extended scoring droughts multiple times over 6-7 minutes.

Manny Harris started practicing some and should be improving which is good for Michigan. Ron Coleman is still very hobbled and I don’t think he needs to be on the court, he is immobile enough with a healthy ankle.

Until this team proves me wrong, I won’t expect much more than this because it seems to be the “blueprint” for Michigan basketball right now.